My Babies

*sighs* It’s so lovely to say/type/think ”my babies”…

Today I am 15 weeks pregnant! Most of the more unpleasant symptoms are gone (goodbye nausea!) but I’m still always tired and the reflux has begun. These things pale in significance to the wonderful things… like my belly button starting to pop out (yes, already!) and teeny flutters below my belly button. Hi Bud, Mummy feels you!

Cameron is 21 months old! This is a busy age where I can literally witness his development daily.

New developments include: drawing lines and circles. Pointing out shapes (circle, crescent, star, diamond). Doing rolly poleys! (too cute!) and his colour sorting skills are evolving. He also expertly kicks a ball with the inside of his foot (much to Mike’s delight).

He is eating so much more. He has cut some new eye teeth and since then his appetite is crazy. He starts most days with two weetbix and loves snacking all day (cashews, berries, sultanas, crackers and apples feature heavily).

Cameron can now undress himself (shirt, shorts, nappy and all!) so I have to watch him in public! I encouraged undressing himself for bath-time and toileting so now it’s time to teach appropriateness of timing

Speaking of toileting, toilet learning isn’t going so great. With a combination of a busy toddler who only vaguely is interested half the time and a Mum who is equally as wishy-washy with enthusiasm, we have a recipe for little progress. We have only had a couple of potty successes. Although he enjoys the routine – running to the toilet, taking off his pants and nappy, getting up on the seat (with trains on it!) and asking for tissues… and he looks mighty cute in teeny ‘big-boy’ undies!

Next weekend my Dad is getting married so you can expect some super-cute photos of Cameron all dressed up in a mini-suit! I also have several posts in drafts that I’ll hopefully get around to finishing soon

Thank you for the lovely comments on my last post!

Teething, Talking and Toileting

Oh Teething, how I hate you!

My poor mite is teething. It’s super-duper obvious and seems to be paired with a developmental leap this time so we are in the thick of a not-so-pleasant phase.

 Cam enjoying a calming camomile tea (known as the Flower Tea, to him)

Cameron is constantly knawing on his fingers, refusing some foods, demanding others, whinging in general and feeding more frequently.

Only up side to teething is that he sleeps better than usual during the day. He’s often down for 1.5-2 hours (which isn’t normal for him!)

Cammy has always managed to get 2-5 teeth at a time and I’m pretty sure that we are in for a few this time too. He is getting his fangs and boy are they red and swollen. He even got one cut through then go back up. Not fair!

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On the topic of ‘developmental leaps’, Cameron is amidst one now. He is getting increasingly frustrated with his inability to communicate himself well. He even tantrums at times and I hate having to tell him “I don’t understand what you want”.

In the past 12 weeks his vocabulary has tripled. At 16 months he frequently used 50 words in context and now, at 19 months he is using over 150 words and he is adding to that daily. Toddler development amazes me.

There is no wonder that he struggles sometimes when so much is going on in his growing body and mind. He is suddenly interested in numbers, letters (phonics), colours (he loves to point out anything red and blue), shapes (especially circle and diamond) and naming everything.

He looooves to read and will bring books to me, ask me to read them ‘again’, and ‘read’ to me too.

He has gone from simply expressing himself with one word to making simple sentences more often to describe things, and to ask & answer questions (e.g. “there is [the] car”, ”bee mug [with] flower tea?”)

He really loves to sing and will say “Rachel!” (he calls me both Rachel and Mummy, switching between the two) to get my attention to show me that he is dancing to the music while I’m driving. He sings along to Bruno Mars “Marry You” by singing the ‘no no no no no’ and ‘yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah’ bits. Too cute. Hah!

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We are transitioning Cameron into his own bed during day naps and it is going well. He carries one of my pillows to his ‘special bed’ and picks a book to read before having a quick feed before nap time.

He is definitely ready for toilet learning now. I have been reading online articles about “toileting the Montessori way” (google to find tonnes of great resources) and think that Cameron has been ready for a fair while now and I have been resisting.

Cameron can tell me when he is peeing/pooing and is keen to put his (Thomas the Tank Engine) padded seat on the toilet, to use a stool to sit on the toilet  himself, and imitate wiping, he likes to flush and will wash his hands (we have one of those automatic soap dispenser thingees… I was so annoyed when Mike begged for one but it’s handy for Cam!)

So really all that Cam is missing is a patient Mum who is willing to give him the opportunity to learn and make mistakes.

I have some organic bamboo training pants coming in the mail and I have cut up some old towels in halves for accidents and got a couple of toileting board books from the library. Wish us luck!